


The Tragedy of Martin

by abelrunner



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Body Horror, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Transphobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Martin Whump, References to Degenerative Illness, S5 spoilers, Trans Martin Blackwood, episode 172 spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:00:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24833488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abelrunner/pseuds/abelrunner
Summary: THE TRAGEDY OF MARTIN: A COMIC PUPPET SHOW IN ALL ACTSAct Five Hundred and Seventy-Six... Enter MARTIN, stage left...--The Web snares as much as it can in its threads, and Jon does his best to hold Martin until he's pieced back together.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64





	The Tragedy of Martin

THE TRAGEDY OF MARTIN: A COMIC PUPPET SHOW IN ALL ACTS

Act Five Hundred and Seventy-Six

_ A stage that is a room that remains a stage. The audience sits, restless and expectant. A table sits on the far end of the stage. On is a piece of paper, a bottle of pills, and a photograph of a happy, smiling family. Above the stage are gently swinging hooks, eager as the patrons. _

_ Enter  _ MARTIN,  _ stage left. He stumbles as if pushed and looks out to the audience, ashen and shaking. _

MARTIN ( _ angrily _ ): No! No, I’m not doing this again! I’m not; you-you can’t make me!

_ Pause for laughter. _

MARTIN: Shut up! Shut  _ up!  _ Where’s Jon? Y-You can’t do this!

THE SPIDER ( _ offstage _ ): Poor, stupid Martin. How many times will we do this before you realize what’s happened?

MARTIN  _ glares at nothing, shaking with fear and rage. He turns and starts to run for the edge of the stage as if to jump. From behind the curtain a hook shoots forward, catching  _ MARTIN  _ in the hip just so.  _ MARTIN  _ screams as a riot of pain goes from his joint to his toes and he collapses. _

MARTIN’S MOTHER ( _ offstage _ ): He’s left, you stupid bitch! He’s left because he doesn’t care about you and he never did!

_ Pause for laughter. _

_ The hook begins to drag  _ MARTIN  _ back slowly, like reeling in a fish. He flails and claws at the ground, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks. _

THE SPIDER: Does it hurt, Martin? It always does at first. But that goes away after a while, doesn’t it?

_ With a roar of fury,  _ MARTIN  _ attempts to stand. The pain that rips through his leg is too much, knocks him flat, and he tumbles into another hook that spears him through the shoulder, sending another shock of pure agony all the way to his fingertips. _

CLARA, a classmate ( _ offstage _ ): I mean, you’re just so weird and… clingy. Like, get new friends? Seriously, stop obsessing over me and just find a hobby.

MARTIN: I hate you! 

_ Pause for laughter. _

MARTIN  _ tries to get to his feet again. Again he is stymied by the pain and the hooks, and he begins instead to drag himself towards the edge of the stage. The hooks allow it for a brief moment before  _ THE SPIDER  _ twists the threads abruptly.  _ MARTIN  _ shrieks as his body spasms across the stage in a jerky, painful looking way, towards the table with the paper, the bottle, the photo. He’s stunned for a moment, limp as  _ THE SPIDER  _ drags him along with twitches of the threads. None of the movements are graceful. _

MARTIN: Jon… Jon,  _ please,  _ I can’t- I can’t do it anymore, I’m so  _ tired- _

THE SPIDER ( _ offstage _ ): Poor Martin. Poor sweet, stupid Martin. Stand up, Martin. If you want it to stop, just stand up and walk away.

MARTIN  _ tries, but his limbs can’t lift him anymore. His body is betraying him the same way his mother's betrayed her. He whines, low and pained in his throat. _

_ Pause for laughter. _

THE SPIDER ( _ offstage _ ): Oh dear. Here. Let me help.

_ A hook descends from above the stage and catches Martin at the base of his skull. It pushes through, exiting his mouth like a tusk. Blood and saliva pour from between his lips as he lets out a gurgle. _

_ The hook lifts him up as he twitches and whines, his limbs spasming as the hooks shift. _

JACK, a lover ( _ offstage _ ): Look, Martin, you’re really sweet. Just… a real nice guy but you’re just… you’re a  _ lot,  _ you know? No offense or anything.

MARTIN  _ is sobbing now. The tears mix with the blood as they drip from his face. He tries to speak but the hook makes it impossible to form words or swallow the blood that drips from his chin. Slowly, weakly, he reaches out a hand towards the audience. _

THE SPIDER ( _ offstage _ ): Martin. He won’t help you. He doesn’t care. No one ever has and you know it. You’re more useful like this than you were before, whining and complaining. This is where he wants y… you… this… this… 

\--

“-where you belong.” The voice was thin and high, like skittering rat feet, like snake scales. Jon blinked rapidly, trying to clear his head, snatch back  _ Jon.  _ Yes, he was Jon, not the Archive, or the Archivist. Jon. He could move and he could think and he could...

Then he looked up.

Martin. His Martin. He hung a few feet above the stage, hooks in hip and shoulder and throat; a horrific, writhing display of pain and fear. And high above, a spider. The most monstrously large, engorged spider Jon had ever seen hovered, watching Martin’s suffering with a thousand black eyes glittering with hunger.

"What do you think, Martin?" The Spider hissed, another twitch of its limbs sending a spasm through Martin's body as the hooks twisted. "Do you think anyone's stuck around?"

A riot of laughter echoed around Jon in a tumult of hilarity. 

Jon had never considered how to call upon the Beholding to See something, to Know it. Part of him had thought it required some sort of verbal component, some sort of ritualistic incantation like everything else. Perhaps that was simply Jon's own flair for the dramatic.

Turned out that a primal scream of rage and hate was more than enough.


End file.
